Currently, the energy industry is a rapidly expanding and very important industry for the day-to-day operations of society. Energy production comes from several sources, such as the petroleum industry, the gas industry, the electrical power industry, the coal industry, and the nuclear power industry. Some new energy industries include the renewable energy industry which includes alternative and sustainable manufacture, distribution, and sale of alternative fuels such as wind, solar, biodiesel, bioalcohol, chemically stored electricity in the form of batteries and fuel cells, non-fossil natural gas, and other sources. While these new energy industries attempt to reduce the need for conventional fuels such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas, these new energy industries are simply not able to produce the energy needed by modern day society.
In order to meet the ongoing demand for energy, several petroleum refining facilities are in operation throughout the world and often run non-stop throughout extended periods of time to meet the needs of society. While these refineries run non-stop for extended periods of time, portions of process units in refineries, petrochemical plants, power plants, and other energy industry facilities will routinely schedule shutdowns, turnarounds or times when a process unit is taken offline in order to revamp and maintain the facility. Turnarounds are very expensive because of the lost production while a process unit is offline and due to the costs of tools, heavy equipment, materials, labor, and other expenses incurred in successfully executing a turnaround and performing much needed maintenance to the process equipment.
During a turnaround, vessels and equipment exposed to the refining and chemical process must be neutralized, de-gassed, and sufficiently decontaminated before maintenance personnel can enter the vessel/equipment and begin maintenance activities on the vessels and equipment. While the decontamination, de-gassing and neutralization process is a necessity, the time required to neutralize, de-gas, and decontaminate the various components of a portion of a facility scheduled for maintenance adds to and increases the cost of a turnaround as it increases the time in which a process unit is offline. In addition, the increased time needed to decontaminate, de-gas, and neutralize the components of a facility, such as vessels and equipment is attributable to the many steps required to accomplish the decontamination, de-gassing, and neutralization process. This multiple step process also leads to increased waste production and increased costs from having to properly dispose of the increased waste production.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a system and method that allows components of a facility undergoing a turnaround, shut-down or maintenance, such as vessels and equipment, to be sufficiently and safely neutralized, de-gassed, and decontaminated in a timely manner and in such a manner that reduces waste production in order to reduce costs associated with waste disposal and down-time during maintenance activities, such as turnarounds and other planned outages.